Rachel Mitchell

I left Israel on August 8th for a 3-month around-the-world trip including S. Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Patagonia, and a big road trip through the US.  I remember leaving and feeling heavy.  There was a lot of internal division here.  There was a lot of tension.  There were a lot of questions about where we were going and what was happening.

I remember waking up on October 7th and hearing the news.  I was in Austin, Texas.  I remember feeling like my entire world had shattered.  It felt unbelievable.  It took me many days to really believe that this could have even happened--it seemed so unbelievable.  I just felt very broken.  I was so lucky to have such a supportive community around me, friends in Israel of course, but also in the US reaching out to me to make sure I was ok.  I stayed in the US a few extra months because of the war.

But what I loved when I came back here was seeing the unity, and (laughs) seeing how people were honking less on the streets.  My credit card wasn't working one day at the grocery store, and the man told me, "ah, just take the groceries and come back and pay later!"  I feel like there's this gentleness that been restored in Israel.  It's something that I love to see, and I'm hoping that we continue to be united, and I'm really grateful to be here right now with my people experiencing this even though these are really the darkest times.

I grew up in a strongly Jewish Conservative family, where Jewish identity, heritage, culture and practice were really important to us.  I always felt connected to my Jewish identity.  My parents really encouraged me to think of being Jewish as just part of who I was, and I really feel that way today.

My dad is 10th-generation born in Tiberias, with heritage from Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Bulgaria and Turkey.  My mom's family were British, also with Sephardic heritage.  This heritage is really important to me.  I was really close with my grandmother who was born in Bulgaria and survived the war there.  I also had the opportunity to speak with some of my great uncles, who were in Israel during the War of Independence.  I got to hear their views and perspectives, which really shaped how I view myself.

I very much see being Jewish as part of this family tie of generation after generation, which impacts my day-to-day.

I actually live in Tel Aviv, but someone in New York sent me a picture of an ad that they saw in New York advertising The Podcast Fellowship.  I thought it was a perfect fit for me because I love podcasts, and so I applied, and very quickly got in touch and went through the process.  Ever since, I've been so thankful for this.

I'm a big podcast person; I listen to probably 3-4 podcasts a day, and I love Jewish learning.  It's something that I always try to incorporate, something that my parents also instilled in me as an important part of our heritage. So when I saw this opportunity, I thought, "wow, it's amazing!"

Of course, a little bit of extra cash every week is great, especially being unemployed.  It definitely incentivized me to keep with the program and enjoy the benefits of discussing the podcasts on a weekly basis.

I would have been interested, but not as consistent.  I do enjoy learning experiences for the sake of learning, but I think the financial benefit did incentivize me to stick with it and do it.  I'm someone who always has lots of things going on.  Especially now, being unemployed, I'm prioritizing things which have a monetary reward to them.

Even when I've had a crazy week, and the last thing on my mind is listening to another podcast and scheduling another meeting (with my mentor), I made sure to do that, for both enjoyment of the learning and the monetary benefit.

My mentor is Michli Ben David (of JAM Israel and OLAMI Professional Circles), in Tel-Aviv.  I LOVE HER.  I love our meetings.  We actually started doing the meetings remote, on FaceTime, because I was still in the US, but despite the time difference which was a little tricky, we were still able to set up a weekly rhythm.  Now that I'm back in Tel Aviv we meet every week for coffee.

I feel that we're really able to bring the podcast to life with our discussions.  She brings so much wisdom, love and compassion into our conversations.  I walk away feeling not only able to contribute and show what I've learned from the podcast, but also learning so much from her.  I'm so grateful for that.

With the current situation in Israel, the podcasts discussing the war from different angles have been very very VERY therapeutic for me.

I feel like TPF has given me so many ways to connect what I see and what's going on in my life day-to-day; to Jewish topics, Jewish values and Jewish history.  I have listened to podcasts across the different topics and I find that every week when I have something on my mind, I'm able to find a podcast that resonates with that something.

So I'm able to explore what I'm experiencing that week through the podcasts, getting some Jewish wisdom on how to endure it, or how to think about it, or how to reframe it.  It's been really helpful, especially with the war going on and having a lot of extra stress and questions about who am I and about being in Israel at this time.  I felt that (through TPF) I was able to learn and grow.

I'm still doing TPF on a weekly basis.  In terms of my practice, throughout the years I've changed a lot, sometimes more observant, sometimes less.  Here in Tel Aviv, it can be kind of tricky to be fully observant, but I have found that with TPF I have grown to appreciate things on a deeper level.

For example, with Chanukah, I really internalized the mitzvot of lighting.  I prioritized making sure to light at the right time every single day.  I see more intention behind what I've done.  Tu BiShvat is a holiday for me that usually comes and goes, but I feel like I got so much wisdom about it this year from the Fellowship.

"The Podcast Fellowship, whether in Dallas or Tel Aviv, gave me the opportunity to connect to my Jewish identity on a regular basis, to learn and grow with a mentor, and really experience connecting Judaism to my everyday life."